





V^ 



li..:^ 



''^I'^i'. 






iH.-'^: 



»'-'^^,"' '■■■■ ' 



?VV'i«: 



■■i!»li*i .,',i' 



'Mi'^^S:'^^' ■^■' '■ 



.-^o^ 














Q^ ^^ *♦ 







^Aq^ 



.^^X. 




'bV^ 







i^^ *^ »"» A? '^-^ ♦ 




>^ 'o . » * A 








o N a >t^ ' • • « * <Cr >i5, 'o , 

^t.„/v?^ * O 



^^v;^^ *. 








ft^ « » " • . ^'<;> 



e N o 




0^ t*^if* 










% 






o « o 






I v* , t • « '•^^ 









O N 



^C5 *'o ^ ^^* A, 



^. ♦/T'.«* .C. 






THE SOUL-A_T-AR]VrS 



J^1S[T> 



OTHER POE]MS 



BY 

.TAivrisR ROBi:isrRo:s^ sivtith: 



We are like men on guard. 



P1.AT0 



J S J 3 } > 

J » > 

J J > > J 

> J 3 J > 



> » » » » • 



»-» »'» 



J. >.. J, »».»»»,»: 



> » i » , > 



* » * * • 



HEZIvITT & SEAWARD 

Cambrtdgeport, Mass. 

1901 



THE LIBRARY OF 
GOWGRESS, 

Two COHES ReCEtVED 

NOV. 22 1901 

Copyright entry 

CLASS t^xXc. No. 

/ ^ l^t^ 
COPY 0. 



Ho' 



COPYRIGHT, 190I 

BY 

JAMES ROBINSON SMITH 



TO MY LOVE 



Hkr days had been of tranquil peace, I thought, 

So happy in its beauty was her face ; 

As if our God had sent her in his grace 

To bring release to minds of men distraught. 

But now I see in her own soul were wrought 

The suffering changes that have led to bliss. 

And in the very rapture of her kiss 

I hear the after-sigh of times she fought. 

The while she seemed a delegated life, 

I looked in glad astonishment above, 

As when the sun awakens field and town. 

But now she breathes a being of the strife, 

I bow my head in gathered peace and love, 

lyike weary peasants when the sun goes down. 



II 

* Zeus, Father, save from out the clouded air 
The sons of Greece, and make the heavens, I pray. 
All fresh and clear. Their hope restore ; and slay 
Them in the light, if so thy will declare.' 
Thus Ajax spake, and Zeus upheld his prayer. 
The sun shone forth and scattered far away 
The mist, and drove the clouds beyond the day. 
There on the plain the battle was laid bare. 
I stand in darkness and in mist that rose 
From the imagined ills which make my night. 
Nor can I see where lies the open fight. 
Where face to face the warrior meets his foes 
And to his death as to his bridal goes. 
If th}^ will. Father, slay me in the light. 



Ill 

Hk wrote the legend of a fairer earth 

That I might read ; 

He told the secret of our human worth ; 

I did not heed. 

His straight way led him to the Sun of suns 

And spreading clouds 

Spiritually impassioned orisons 

From swirling crowds, 

I kneel and quake before the wind that blows 

From off that land ; 

He holds the sweet forgiveness of a rose 

Within his hand. 



IV 

As home-returning soldiers build a mound 

Of gleaming trophies, won from ancient foe, 

And round it children brighten in the glow 

Of the strange playthings by their fathers found ; — 

At eve the victors march to open ground 

Before the walls for their return laid low. 

All night they hymn the moon-curbed sea, and 

know 
Communicated thankfulness profound ; — 
K'en so the soul-at-arms by aspiration 
Led and upheld in high endeavor, brings 
The glorious tokens gained in consummation 
Of self-effacing dreams, and grandly sings 
Its never-ending strains of adoration 
Voiced to the God-controllM surge of things. 



V — S]ePTEMBER 2, 1898 

O Mahdist, when thou held'st at Omdurman 
The sacred standard of thy God on high, 
The faith that shone in thy fanatic eye 
Secured to immortality thy clan. 
With that defiant deed of thine began 
The unillumined night of Afric sky 
To blaze with stars ; and o'er the hopes that lie 
In men a quickening sense of glory ran. 
Unarmored, standing in his comrades' gore, 
As deaf as they to whistling bullets' hum, 
As grandly dead to booming cannons' roar : 
One more is added to the countless sum 
Of all the great ones that have gone before, 
And all the greater that are yet to come. 



VI 

Heroic are the times in which we dwell. 

Look everywhere and see the faces bright 

With burning ardor of an inner light, 

And strong wills humbled under stronger spell. 

While unknown thousands live who never quell 

Their sense of something better ; whose delight 

Is duty made desire ; whose faith gives sight 

Of heaven to other men just come from hell. 

When some small incident reveals the grand 

We live in — all its far sublimity — 

I seem a member of that remnant band 

Of marching Greeks, who, glimpsing suddenly 

Where spreads the broad expanse that waves their 

land, 
Shouted in wild delirium, ' The sea, the sea.' 



VII 



Thk heavens laugh about the sun, 
The shores receive with shouts the sea ; 
The fields are glad v/ith brooks that run, 
And thou, my love, rejoicest me. 



VIII 

Th:^ ages dreamed of perfect brotherhood, 
And one short century has proved it true. 
The ages never dreamed nor understood 
The love immutable I have for you. 



IX 

O Spirit floating through eternity, 

O lyove, to whom ascend the loves of time. 

Again I hear in deep humility 

Thy long exerted harmony sublime. 



X 

This human life the sea I sail. 
And faith in men the speeding wind. 
My friends the blessed ships I hail, 
And God the port we all would find. 



XI — TO WORDSWORTH 

VoiCER of harmonies before unknown, 

Believer in humanity, O sage, 

O poet, I love to wander o'er the page 

Which thou with never-dying seed hast sown. 

For thoughts flower there that lead me to a throne 

Of happiness, so clearly they presage 

What God has given as our heritage, 

And what by effort we can make our own. 

And O to battle with the wakened throng 

Of happy warriors, whose voices roll 

Some fragment of the burden of thy song 

Heavenward ! till life no longer can control 

The vision and the glory that belong 

To human crises of the immortal soul. 



XII 

O THOU who led'st me through the wilderness 

Of doubt, through faith in thee thy lover goes 

On to the promised land, where deeply flows 

The river of belief, w^ith streams that bless. 

And now at sunrise long before the stress 

Of day sets in, a courage, a repose. 

Renew themselves as surely as a rose 

Flowers from morning dews of happiness. 

And when at night I pray that all my dreams 

Shall be of thee, I pass in ecstacy 

Of visionary thought to where there seems 

The thrilled communion of a trinity 

Whose light through melting clouds of longing 

beams : 
Thy soul, and my desire, and Deity. 



XIII 

His face is like a holy narrative 

Illuminated in some monk's lone cell. 

But colors could not paint, nor letters spell, 

The living story that his features give. 

The eyes are silently contemplative 

Of some new world of thought. The brow doth tell 

The building of a firmament where dwell 

Those higher sympathies by which we live. 

Here has the faith which never finds its way 

To words its dumb expression, and the goal 

That vanishes or changes day by day 

Is imaged here inviolate. The whole 

Is marked with lines and shadows that portray 

The sacred victories of mind and soul. 



XIV — TO DOROTHY WORDSWORTH 

Dear Dorothy, how many hast thou taught 

To know a quietude mid sufferings — 

That utter tenderness which sorrow brings. 

Without the turmoil of a mind distraught. 

And friends through thee, we bless the hand that 

wrought. 
That husbanded these daily offerings : 
Thy home-felt sympathy with lonely things — 
The still communion with thy dearest thought. 
And always shall we love thy simple lore 
Of sweetness ; love upon the hills to feast 
Our souls with beauty. Maiden, evermore 
Thy name is linked to nature's highest priest. 
How happy in his heaven must he be, 
Knowing like immortality with thee. 



XV 

Too much I dwell with sadness ; by degrees 

The great, blue heavens have darkened with the 

pain 
And death of everything that lives ; the rain 
Sorrowing and the burdened moan of seas. 

let me purge myself of such disease, 
And wed my hardships to a nobler strain. 

1 '11 fight with heroes on the Trojan plain, 
Or listen, purified, to Socrates. 

Or watch where Satan's majesties are met 

In ruin, battalion on battalion hurled ; 

While the far host that stood for heaven, have set 

The stars and sleep in quiet with banners furled. 

For one courageous hour I shall forget 

The silent suffering of the modern world. 



XVI — TO DANTE 

Thy harmonies have not yet held mine ear. 
Thy truth has still its glory to create. 
And yet thou art, I think, of all the great, 
He whom at death I chiefly shall revere. 
For they who breathe thy holy atmosphere, 
Come flushed with adoration, and I wait 
In growing wonderment without the gate, 
As shepherds watch the shadowed sun and fear. 
And when I come, as soon I shall, to stand 
Within the minster's soaring majesty. 
Vouchsafe I need not shield my face with hand 
Uplifted lest thy light discover me ; 
But let my spirit suddenly be fanned 
In sweet translation to thy purity. 



XVII — THE SOUL-AT-ARMS 

* Why ask to know the elemental throes 

That gave me birth, or vainly hope to trace, 

Beyond the gulf of death, the paths that scale 

Those undetermined heights of majesty 

And power which rise to bound the great un- 

kown? 
Enough that here upon this humble earth 
Are moments of estatic holiness 
For those who heed the everlasting voice 
Within. This world doth move to grander strains 
Than thou hast ear for. Greater turbulence 
Breaks round the throne of God than that which 

shook 
Creation. Exultations from life's heights 
Meet there embittered cryings from the depths. 
Through storm and wind, his sentinels, through 

wind 
And storm we stand on guard, his souls-at-arms. 
And though we fall the battle will be won. 
But there we fight in unison, while here 
No other armor serves one save his own. 
But even as when the mind attempts to grasp 
The early glory of the morning heavens 
Whose white magnificence of clouds is spread 
Before the coming of the kingly sun. 
When now, above the hills, a little cloud 
Of gold sails into being, then the heart 
Of him who waits rejoices with the sky : 
So separate and blest, so infinite 
In value is the individual soul. 
To thee, my friend, within whose templed walls 
I dwell, to thee I plead, to thee alone. 



8 



O let me be a spirit militant 

And rout the cowardice of selfish fears. 

As when a lover sleeps and wakes to find 

The image of his maiden on his brain, 

And tries to dream her o'er again, but soon 

Is swept with longing for her living self : 

So will the passive thing which now I am 

Be clad in loving raiment of desire. 

Receive me, be possessed of me, and words 

Will reach thy lips with nobler meaning, thoughts 

Which delegated angels put to sleep 

In Eden's paradise, will wake and sing. 

And I shall gird thee with the strength of joy.* 



XVIII 



Strangkrs, we met upon a table-land 
Of sympathy and found our faiths akin. 
As friends, we stood upon a wonder-strand, 
And watched the mighty tide of love roll in. 



XIX 



In youth he trod a shepherd's path. 
And had a shepherd's careless thought. 
To-day he 's under God's stern wrath, 
And every step with pain is fraught. 



XX 



Thk gentle waves fall golden to our gaze. 
Of all the peaceful heavens the moon rides lord. 
How long, how long, beloved, shall we raise 
Our hearts in utter thankfulness to God. 



XXI 



Thk sun-god starts exultant for the race, 
The laughing rivers cheer the swollen sea. 
All nature speaks the gladness of thy face ; 
Full tides and early dawns I love, and thee. 



lO 



XXII 

Thk streets were angry on that starless night 
With people hungry for their daily bread. 
I stood confounded, till, above my head, 
A pale-lit window drew me to its height. 
A man was bending near a candle-light, 
And when I asked him what he did, he said, 
' Beside my wish for eating and my bed, 
I make me learn a little English right.' 
The crowd stood cursing its inhuman fate. 
Or sat contented in its misery, 
While he, as poor as they and starving, late 
And early steers his chosen destiny. 
We are what we set out for, and the great 
And blest of old are with us as we trv. 



XXIII — EPITHALAMIUM 

Forbid, O God, that on our wedding-day 

The central perils of our lives should cease ; 

But let their vital influence increase. 

And leave us bolder for their mastered sway. 

The rude encounters of the larger fray 

Are strong to give imprisoned wills release. 

The thrill of fighting be our perfect peace. 

The hardest ever is the holiest way. 

The time is tranquil as a brooding dove. 

But love's lone bark has life's loud waves to ride, 

And storms may gather in the blue above. 

With rapture may we mount the angry tide. 

And hail our ills as lovers greet their love. 

Though sorrow be th^- bridegroom, pain my bride. 



II 



XXIV 

Whiter shield and golden helm of olden knight 

Are happy minds become and hearts made pure. 

By faith and love we keep our homes secure. 

With hope the armor of our souls is bright. 

Attendant glories of the former fight 

Are gone, but we have hardships to endure 

As beautiful as theirs, and are, though poor, 

As rich in recognition of the right 

And priceless things of which no human stealth 

Can rob us. Ours the sweet solemnity 

Of night and day, and evening, morning health ; 

The hushed cathedral's dim immensity 

Wherein to dream our dreams ; and all the wealth 

And inspiration of our poverty. 



XXV 

A souL-CHii^D came with me when I was born, 

And keeps unseen attendance at my side. 

He says, when noble things are left untried, 

* Think, brother, of our father, he will mourn.' 

Or if by natural indignation torn, 

I undertake to hedge myself with pride 

From others' censures, clearly doth he chide, 

' O pity, that one's faith should turn to scorn.' 

But when I ask that he shall take the lead, 

I hear, ' Mine but the prompting, thine the choice.' 

He makes me happy in the direst need. 

And strangely sober where I might rejoice. 

And I might think that he were Christ indeed, 

So gently loving is his sacred voice. 



12 



XXVI — ODK TO THK CONSCIENCE 

Just arbiter between the right and wrong, 
The things that make a god divine belong 

To thy true fame ; 
But some, the slaves of too great freedom, jeer 
And some, irresolution's victims, fear 

To grant thy claim, 

But I may name 
Thee ever holiest mid the angel throng. 

Thou drivest duty, will and bravery 
With many noble prophecies on high 

To keep thy law ; 
And when, athirst for time, they downward dash, 
They settle firm beneath thy cutting lash 

Inspired with awe, 

And forward draw 
The chariot soul to immortality. 

Thy rule of righteousness we know and trust, 
For its impassioned temperance is just 

To each man's plea. 
We steel our weapons in thy tempering fire 
And love to wage the wars against desire. 

For thy decree 

Will steadfast be 
When faithless creeds fall fainting in the dust. 



13 



O God of faith, O Conscience of us all, 
By this thy flame in every hut and hall 

We live and die. 
From our scant light we call those ages dark 
That humbly handed on the precious spark 

In purity. 

And built on high 
The large cathedrals, buttressed at thy call. 

O watchful guardian of the thoughtless boy, 
O stern commander of the man ! destroy 

Our sense of fear. 
Bestow upon thy chastened children blind 
Undeviating rectitude of mind. 

That we may rear 

And hold more dear 
Those high resolves that lead us on to joy. 



14 



XXVII 



lyEjT my devotion be 
Calm as a child asleep, 
Pure as the heavens, deep 
As the unchanging sea. 



XXVIII 



A simpi^e: faith in Jesus Christ and God ; 
A home of love to keep us from the wind ; 
A chosen work that is its own reward ; 
A little leisure and a quiet mind. 



XXIX 



Thk stars that spread their glory on the floor 
Of heaven have followed on a perfect day ; 
And yet, beneath the gladness, more and more 
I look upon the patient earth and pray. 



XXX 

Thk outstretched heavens bless the lowly earth, 
The smiling earth adores the heavens above. 
They look the beauty of their common birth : 
The world was born in tenderness and love. 



15 



XXXI 

HuMiiviTY is not subservience 

To unrelated powers beyond recourse ; 

Nor weak denial of the actual force 

Abiding in our human elements. 

'T is being overburdened with a sense 

Of utter consecration to a course 

Of high ambitions, whose unfailing source 

Is God's will working in the world's defence. 

When faithful tidings of man's greatness, brought 

O'er the deep sea of contemplation, shed 

New glories round us, then the heart is taught 

That only by his Spirit we are fed — 

The gleam, the fervor, and the glowing thought. 

Worlds move in trembling brilliance overhead. 



XXXII 

I SKEK no lasting splendor in the skies. 
Nor deep communion with the men of old. 
Enough true rapture would my spirit hold, 
If God on earth should build his paradise. 
For could a heaven seem fairer to our eyes 
Than this uplifted blue we now behold ? 
Or could a world more grandly be unrolled 
Than this our home whose beauty never dies ? 
And if the soul were in the body free, 
How spiritual humanity would seem. 
Each face of all the sacred company 
With angel-like beatitude would beam. 
And we should pass each other silently, 
In holy recognition of our dream. 



i6 



XXXIII 

I HOLD that books and nature are commands 

To better living ; 3^et almost as naught 

Before the process of creative thought, 

Or daily passion of God's high demands. 

But from the height where Plato ever stands 

Are visions of our purer nature caught, 

And o'er the wide philosophy he taught, 

A whole, enduring heaven of truth expands. 

And oft wathin the love-compelling face 

Of evening's beatific clouds, it seems 

That the Eternal has abiding-place, 

Such light from out the great high heaven streams, 

Before that glorious altar, by its grace, 

Comes the confession of men's holiest dreams. 



XXXIV 

Two ever-present forces shape the will, 

And keep it to a purpose low or high. 

The one shows mercy to our weakest lie 

And makes our selfish passions meaner still. 

The other has a vision to fulfil 

And gives the living strength to do and die. 

And who so base that can his saint deny. 

Or who so pure that does not know his ill. 

The noble prophet whose uncovered face 

Is lit with spiritual abstraction mild, 

Has sometimes nought between him and disgrace. 

And though by every stain of guilt defiled. 

The most unworthy member of the race 

Will look with pity on his sleeping child. 



17 



XXXV 

UPI.IFTKD from this world of time and space 
I saw God's angels round about his throne. 
The swords of Cherubim and trumpets blown 
By Seraphim made heaven of the place. 
The living faith of ages calmed the face 
Of Michael, but diviner beauty shone 
In Christ, whose sweet sublimity had known 
On earth the presence and the power of grace. 
The knowledge of their Father's love doth fill 
The sons of God with perfect peace secure, 
And in his service is their joy ; but still 
The history of their features made me sure 
That God denies them knowledge of his will — 
Kach angel through himself is strong and pure. 



XXXVI 

Whkn God's high thunder broke around my head, 

And the dark road was shaken with his light, 

I ran and called with terror and delight, 

For the whole world seemed waking from the dead. 

Though now the sacred ecstacy has fled, 

And silent greatness holds the sky of night, 

I crave the glory of that second sight — 

To know forevermore the God I dread. 

For human thoughts though pure as living springs 

Reflect but human heavens after all ; 

And we have need of more than mortal brings 

Our consecrated spirits to enthral : 

A heightened consciousness of greater things — 

A long illumination and a call. 

i8 



XXXVII 

Thk land of friends is passing fair, 
Enclosed with peaceful skies above 
And purple mountains hung in air. 
And round the outer side thereof 
Are sacred intervals ; and there 
It borders on the land of love. 

The land of love is fairer still 

And happy as a wayside stream. 

Deep rivers keep their own sweet will, 

And seas with golden sunsets gleam. 

And lovers wind around a hill 

lyike saints that rise from dream to dream. 

Birds musical the twilight through — 
Brooks laughing loud on every hand — 
Winds calling down the evening dew — 
Waves breaking white along the strand — 
Are voices of the dream come true : 
That I have crossed the border land ! 



19 



XXVIII— A BRIEF TRUCE 

Characters : A Count — A Priest — A Peasant-girl 
PivACE : The hill-country of Italy 
Time : The present 

SCKNK I — The tower room of the Cou7ifs castle. On 
the walls is hung ' armoury of the invificible knights 
of old. ' Through the open window may be seen the 
distant^ snow-capped Apennines^ aiid neighboring 
hills. 

Count {alo?ie) 
This day of idleness has fed my sin 
As barren skies give nourishment to clouds. 
Yet action will not dull the sting, for then 
I feel the hounds of conscience drawing near, 
And like a hunted stag at eve, I fall. 
Sleep is a stranger whom I let not in 
And tireless demons guard the door of peace. 
In vain I intercede on my behalf, 
Saying, * Not I, but kindness kissed the girl.' 
Too clearly stands the burning consciousness 
Of sin committed by my own free will, 
With knowledge that 'twas wrong. A little kiss. 
Which thousands give in merriment and reap 
No retribution ; I, in tenderness 
And drink the cup of suffering to the lees, 
For with the kiss I pledged my self, my soul, 



20 



That there my life should be, and there my rest. 
The little ripple of unchecked desire 
Beneath the wind of conscience grows a wave 
That bears me to destruction — I am gone ! 

{Moves suddetily as if to plicnge through one of the open windows but 
checks hiviself ; after a pause, he contiitues) 

But no ! there yet remains the one resource 
Of full confession to the absolving priest. 
Perchance he '11 make my peace with memories. 

{Exit) 

Scene II — A vast cathedral, dim in its immensity and 
shadow, spkfidid i7i its magnificence of wi?idow. In the 
north aisle a confessional, at which the coufit kneels. 

Count 
I come to tell thee, father, of my sin, 
A sin which wolf-like lacerates my breast, 
And I am not the Spartan to conceal. 
Bound homeward from the chase one afternoon, 
Twelve months ago, I met a peasant-girl 
Who bent beneath the burden of her load. 
I held in rein, dismounted, and asked leave 
To place her heavy bundle on my horse. 
She gave me thanks, and raised and held the pack 
Upon the saddle, while I led the way. 
We walked in silence many upland miles. 
Until our roads divided on a hill. 
The time was of the setting of the sun. 
The mountain snows were bathed in evening light, 
And stationed round about them flamed the clouds 
Like great, all-shining ministers of God. 



21 



While in the lovely vale beneath us lay 
The peacefulness and patience of the earth. 
The silence was intensified, until 
My heart melted in tears of joy that earth 
Was so near heaven. I quietly kissed the girl. 
She seemed to come like evening o'er my mind. 
And while we watched the wondrous moon arise, 
Words from my heart kept mounting to my lips 
Vowing eternal pledges of my love. 
And ere we parted, I had named the day 
When I should make her mistress of my halls. 
My mind that night was bathed in blissfulness 
Of thought ; but with the morn I seemed undone. 
I knew that I should lose all faith in self 
And God, if that one pledge stood broken. Yet 
How could I shame my lineage, kill my pride. 
I have not seen nor tried to see her since. 
But that first kiss is with me burning still. 
My conscience haunts me like a baleful dream, 
Or like a vulture fastens on my brain. 
Each moment is the tapping of a drill 
That undermines my character at last. 
Shrieve me, O shrieve me, father, of that sin. 
A mediator, plead for me in prayer. 

Priest {after a pause) 
It is not to be dreamed of that the soul 
Should purge itself by vacant prayers to Heaven ; 
Should ever mirror God within its depths 
While o'er its surface hangs a mist of sin. 
Before thou seekest pardon of thy God, 
Make reparation to the girl thou 'st wronged. 



22 



Heaven and the world hate sin. The God and 

law 
Of things demand thou straightway wed the child. 
Receive her promise, lead her here, then home. 
The soul of man is beautiful by deeds 
Or else in casual aspiration dies 
Away. Think'st thou that they who built on 

high 
These walls of aspiration, this devout 
Magnificence of window, passed their lives 
In theoretic dreaming all the day ? 
Ah no ! they actualized their praise and prayer 
In stone. So shall with us a living faith, 
The deep religion of our daily lives, 
And fruitful deeds, immortalize our dreams. 
There yet are peaks far higher than thou seest 
From whence this mountain thou art now to 

climb 
Will seem a little valley lost to view. 
I may not tell the courage of thy days, 
And long, successive nights of dreamless sleep. 
Be comforted, my son ; no longer think 
That God inhabits regions bright in Heaven, 
And evil holds a reign secure in hell. 
But look within thy knowing heart and see 
The Deity and devil side by side. 
Sin has no other origin but there, 
And thence alone the penitent must come. 
For there are all thy wars and terms of peace — 
Unqualified surrender to the soul. 



23 



Scene III — On the highivay, T/ie sun is rising and 
comes like a lover o^erthe morning hills ^ bringing wannth 
and gladness to the loved earth. 



6' 



Count {alone') 

My mind is made, but O, that 't were my mind 
And not the priest's ! I left too much to him. 
Not mine the glory of a thing resolved, 
Nor after-triumph of the thing attained, {a pause) 
Ah ! here she comes, much changed, and yet the 
same. 

{The girl enters on her way to her work in the fields) 

Maiden, thou must remember me, thy friend — 

The day we spent together and the eve. 

I ask thee now to come and be my bride, 

To live with me in the high halls, and love 

Our children more, far more, than thou canst me. 

Girl 
Ah ! sir, I do remember thee, the day 
We spent together and the guilty thing 
Thou dost not name. In purest innocence 
Of soul I thought thou loved' st me in that kiss. 
How often since that time, when at my work, 
I 've felt thee drawing near to take me home. 
And in my evening dreams on gentle nights 
I heard thee calling from the hills of sleep. 
At lone dawns on that hillside whence we viewed 



24 



The sun's calm setting, I have stood and prayed. 

'T was then I saw that thou wouldst never come, 

Till thought would follow after thought in tears. 

But in the quiet confession of my heart 

I knew the feeling and the sense of sin. 

To God I kneeled. Of Christ I pardon asked. 

The mornings broke on sorrow and on care, 

And sun and mountain-winds have wasted me, 

Till the weak body knows that it will die 

And be no more. I long to sow and reap 

In other fields, where, working, I shall hear 

New harmonies, and looking up shall see 

Bright saints in rapture passing toward the dawn; 

And others standing motionless, whose thoughts, 

lyate found in heaven, do make them pause and 

wonder, 
Till o'er the gulph between the vision seen 
And God they are transported, and become 
Their sacred selves. I think that one may see 
Only the beauty of the earth from there : 
Its upright vsouls and pure, its vales and hills. 
I wonder if the stars are seen, the stars 
Our watchful gruardians — 



£> 



Count ( interrupting ) 

Maiden, come with me. 
God will be with us only if thou come. 

GiRi, {after a patise) 

I fear this is obedience to thy church. 

Or conscience ; not the flowering of thy heart 



25 



In love. Thou canst not love the poor, weak thing 
I am, too near to death to be thy bride. 
Oh ! sir, be kind at heart and true in mind. 
And try to love some day for love of lyOve, 
To feel the kiss of righteousness and peace. 
Farewell. Kver, a soldier, fight and pray ; 
For Christ's sake, in acknowledgment of Him 
Whose influence breathes quiet upon the world. 

{Exit girl. Count remains^ with head bowed) 



XXXIX 

He trod the sacred highway of desire 
And looked for some far light to lead him true, 
And many crimson dawnings bathed the blue 
Which seemed his noblest being to inspire. 
But as the sun, though set, will gild a spire 
To glory, so a world beyond his view 
Now touched his heart to faith, and with a new, 
More universal love he journeys higher. 
The sacred highway of his youth he leaves, 
The smiles and greetings of the crowd are gone ; 
But high and heavenly-minded he achieves 
In faithfulness his guerdon and a crown. 
Bounteous are the blessings he receives, 
Serene and deep the faith that leads him on. 



XL 

When on his dreams the final sanctions fall 
And thousands their thanksgiving voices raise, 
He shrinks from looking at their blinding praise 
The meed is nothing for the work was all. 
And though the task had been as bitter gall, 
Had joined in sorrow all his nights and days. 
He seeks effacement from their idle gaze. 
Or hears anew some faith-compelling call. 
Of that pure time, O true prefigurement. 
When dream and drama, looking up from life. 
Shall lose their human, selfish element ; 
Where evil in itself and good are rife. 
And we the actors, dreamers, shall be spent 
In wild participation of that strife. 



XIvI 

And in the dream I found me at the door 

Of heaven, and someone gently closed mine eyes. 

Again I opened them on Paradise. 

I never felt such central peace before. 

For Christ was there in fulness to adore, 

Since in me He made love and light arise ; 

And God, whose perfect stillness moves the skies — 

Whose face the saints behold forevermore. 

And like the mighty movement of the sea, 

The Spirit throbbed and trembled through the whole. 

And angels stood in rapture calm and free, 

lyive pilgrims dreaming they are near their goal ; 

Or came like ships at evening silently 

With all their precious freight of sense and soul. 



XIvII 

On:^ beauty is the revelation wrought 

Upon the weather-beaten majesty 

Of mountains, and the heavens' purity 

Which frees us from the tyranny of thought. 

Another is the symbolism sought 

By sovereign artists in their great degree, 

That man may be reminded of that sea 

Of real perfections whence his soul is brought. 

True beauty is humility that strives 

And wins and does not know ; the laws that lend 

To baffled toil a glory that survives ; 

Two ardent, faithful angels that attend 

The morning and the evening of our lives : 

The deathless dream and love that knows no end. 



28 



XLIII 

How sweet it is to lie upon the earth, 
And think the world how beautiful, how dear. 
How many noble qualities have birth, 
How many hundred spirits flower here. 



XLIV 

Thk clouds make beautiful the setting sun, 
And stars within the river shine more fair. 
But thou, my love, in soul and sight art one : 
Thy life reveals thy beauty everywhere. 



XIvV 

Our birth is what our fathers wrought, 
Our being, what we make it be ; 
And yet, O God, I love the thought 
That we are thine and came from Thee. 



XIvVI 

lyOVB is not passion drunken with new wine. 
Nor fickle winds whose changings never cease. 
lyOve is tranquility, the kiss of peace — 
Eternally, immutably divine. 



29 



XLVII — THB SHIELD OF HUMAN NATURE 

Yk white-haired men, who front the setting sun 

And on whose brows the light of evening dies, 

Remembering when your race v/as still to run, 

Regard with less of pity in your eyes 

These youths who stablish high their distant goal 

And watch the flooded heavens as they rise. 

Remember when life's glory filled 3^our soul ; 

When light seemed ever breaking on the mind, 

And near performance led to far control. 

Is there no storm and darkness left behind 

To sublimate and strengthen human powers ? 

God's great dear wa^^s of peace are unconfined. 

Is David's high experience not ours? 

And when did all the prophets cease to rage ? 

When died that noble-mindedness which flowers 

In beauty and in truth on Plato's page ? 

His service, like the shining of a star, 

Is frequent, universal, knows no age. 

'T was only yesterday he crossed the bar, 

Who now is listening to the planets sing 

And holds communion with the great afar. 

And he for whom the lilacs bloom in spring. 

Shall live to vindicate his time and land 

And help to crown man o'er himself a king. 

And things too beautiful to understand 



30 



Do arm my faith that soon another knight 
Shall rise with power and goodness in his hand, 
To lead o'er roads of pain the world to right. 
The holy warfare of his soul shall yield 
High feelings, great beliefs, and deeds of light. 
God grant to all men to behold the shield 
Of human nature from the side that gleams. 
With rising strength of vision it is steeled 
And flames immortal challenge with its beams. 
Who once that light beholds, can never cease 
The living dedication to his dreams — 
The eternal effort toward a higher peace. 



XI^VIII 

lyKT 's close our eyes and dream that we are dead, 

And feel the body severed from the mind, 

Which spreads its generous sails to catch the wind 

And seeks an ocean where no ships have sped. 

New stars unveil their beauty overhead, 

The highest peaks of thought-land drop behind. 

But down the sky an isle becomes defined 

With flaming clouds of glory overspread. 

The waves of righteousness are thundering there, 

Yet through the cliffs a lovely bay expands. 

We leave our little dream-boat to its care 

And wakened into rapture kiss the sands ; 

And rise to breathe the incense-laden air — 

Behold ! the mighty Vindicator stands. 



XIvIX— THE MADMAN 

' Am I a child to heed their words of hell 

Or let them know I feel their every thrust ? 

I am a child in gentleness and trust 

And know that where God leads me, all is well. 

The madmen built and barred this crazy cell. 

And chained their savior here to let him rust. 

But sooner shall the heavens fall in dust 

Than they my indignation can compel. 

Joy were it for me to have lived the whole. 

And raised humanity above the sod ; 

Another way has led me to my goal — 

The rugged way, which all the saints have trod. 

High in the mountain regions of the soul 

Is peace, and close communion with my God.' 



32 



O FOR the bravery to stand ! 
And know in fighting that high joy 
Which none save martyrs may command, 
And naught but Heaven can destroy. 



LI 

His better words are lonely as his ways, 
Though human friendship is his great desire. 
He dreams of olive peace through precious days, 
But finds contentment in consuming fire. 



IvII 

I Gi^ORY in the glory of the stars. 

And laugh with all the laughter of the stream, 

I fight the battles of the farthest wars, 

And dream, beloved, thy all-sacred dream. 



LIII 

The: wild sky flames the glory to believe ; 
In saintly sounds pure ravishment abides ; 
lyife's lofty summits shout, ' Aspire, achieve.' 
All this in love I find, and peace besides. 

LP '\ 
.or ^. 



33 



IvIV 

Thk sunrise like great music wakes my soul ; 
From time it wakes it to eternity. 
Kxalted silence sublimates the whole. 
I keep my peace in rapt humility. 

Great music like the sunrise fires my dreams. 
The round heavens rise in flames ; the air is filled 
With all God's white removed stars. It seems 
As if the world with sudden rapture thrilled. 

Twice blest when I have heard great music sound 
Great harmonies, and watched the radiant sun. 
Such days I dream it out on holy ground : 
Receptive and creative I am one. 



No petty moods or motions of the hours 

Should tune our service to the Holy One, 

But knowledge of the battles to be won 

Should thrill and summon all our native powers. 

How high the peak of aspiration towers. 

How broad and beautiful life's rivers run. 

The moving splendors of the setting sun 

Are foretastes of the glory to be ours. 

We grow by loving holy things and true. 

They raise our peace and consecrate the song. 

This life is always larger than our view. 

The right is ever richer than the wrong. 

New blessings crown the day ; the stars renew 

Their heavenly invitation to be strong. 



34 



LVI 

BlKST is the little that is mine, 
And great enongh to keep me free, 
If that small, inner voice be thine. 
And the infrequent vision, Thee. 



LVII 

Thk nations let their cannon-thunder roll 
'Gainst alien foes, on foreign sea and shore. 
But man on that old battle-ground, the soul, 
\Vao:es the self-same conflict o'er and o'er. 



LVIII 

Shakspkrb the prodigal could lavish Time 
On brief fond nothings, and remain above. 
I am a spendthrift if I keep one rime 
From throbbing with the beauty of my love. 



LIX — TO THE SUNSET 

O BEAUTY far beyond our striving made ! 
Prophets and kings and wondering peasantr}^ 
How many, since the world began, have laid 
The struggle down, and turned in peace to thee. 



35 



LX — THE STARS 

' Majesticai, protectors of the sky, 

Unmoved, unwarred on, aye at rest ; 

For all your light, with sympathy unblest, 

lyike priests too holy for humanity.' 

As I spake thus, a planet made reply : 

' From west to east we fly, from east to west, 

We fly, we race, the savage storm to breast. 

Spinning our courses through eternity. 

To blend our clustred spendors in one glow, 

Or in some lonely void our ardor fan ; 

To work essential blessing as we go, 

And sing the far fulfilment of God's plan ; 

And still a high and starry peace to show, 

And silent sympathy with suffering man.' 



IvXI — HEREDITY 

To live one's dreams, not only to be dear 

To the good God who loves that things come true ; 

Nor merely that against the eternal blue 

lyife's passing clouds may beautiful appear ; 

But fight, persuaded that for conquered fear 

Your son will know^ its courage after 3^ou ; 

For every tempest calmly w^eathered through, 

The faithful stars for him will shine more clear. 

God-chosen champions of those shadowy powers 

That wait in silence their desired release, 

We serve most deeply w^hen we serve those hours 

Whose bliss from present agony takes lease. 

The seedsman Duty sows the fairest flowers, 

Which bloom long after he has found his peace. 

36 



LXII 

TherK is contentment in the angel choir. 

From pride of dawn to humble eve they rest 

In pure devotion to their Lord's behest, 

Be it of liberty and peace, or higher, 

Right-onward service such as saints aspire 

And heroes burn to do. Their only test 

Is faithful standing to their conscious best, 

Though the far heavens roar wath heartless fire. 

They visit us, these souls of harmony, 

To tune the human by the heavenly chord ; 

And clearly sound, like shoreward waves at sea. 

The far-off music of the real reward : 

Each mortal may his better-angel be 

And live in concord with his soul and God. 



LXIII 

O Thou imperious Master of my mind ! 
Forbid my thoughts be slaves to private good. 
Forever be their spiritual livelihood 
The dreams and dedications of mankind. 
Not that the body-soul may cease to find 
Peace preludes in the mountain-brotherhood — 
The growing splendor of the autumn wood — 
The rage and rapture of the winter wind. 
But still for man, his struggle and his star, 
My law and energy shall take their place. 
For I have read within that poor man's scar 
A message breathing blessing to the race ; 
Have seen, while he lay moaning there, a far, 
Serene sublimity pass o'er his face. 



37 



LXIV 

MkrK disappointment is a glorious thing. 

It draws the poison from desire. It makes 

The man at one with God's great ways. It wakes 

The soul from slumber, bidding it to wing 

The heaven of its holy dreams and sing. 

And far away in pure ideas it takes 

Its course from star to star whose music breaks 

Before their high Original and King. 

But disappointment in ourselves ! To dread 

While sunsets dare their splendor ; to hear cries 

From burning cities and with fear be dead ; 

To live unloving, and have dreams that rise 

And set in vain, like clouded stars unread. 

How shattered then the builded temple lies. 



IvXV 

'' The poets take fire in sacred solitude 

And unrelated happiness, and dream 

Their dreams ' on summer eves by haunted stream.' 

Tranquillity and 303^ their heavenly food." 

So thought I then, and little understood 

That only by the cross doth God redeem ; 

The life-long sacrifice his mercies seem — 

The peace of others is our tragic good. 

Thank God, the truest poetry is found 

Where bread is thanked for with the grace of tears ; 

Where sorrow yields to gratitude profound 

That we against hope hope, and face our fears. 

Though aching heart and jarring thoughts confound 

The ever-changing traged}^ of years. 



33 



THE SOUL-AT-ARMS 

AND OTHER POEHS 

By 

JAMKS ROBINSON SMITH 

Price 50 cts. net, postpaid 

HKZI.ITT & SEAWARD 

PUBI.1SHEJRS 

Cambridgeport, Mass. 

1901 



3fl08 ♦ 



Kcv 2Q leoa 



NOV 22 1901 









i» » 







































,0^ 



v^^-y' ^^^^'Z v>^-;/ V 











LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



015 873 865 A 



•^1 



;.-^^ 



■ h 



■if. 



s 

^:''ii 






/• , 






<^-XX jJC 



